Integrally molded header and curtain rail

ABSTRACT

A header unit adapted to form the uppermost portion of a shower stall entranceway comprising an elongated section of &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;V&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; shaped cross-section, stile receiving members attached to both ends thereof, knob-like members at the bottom interior of said stile receiving members and a shower curtain rail positioned lengthwise along the rear portion of said section.

United States Patent Chisholm et al.

[ Mar. 19, 1974 [56] References Cited I UNITED STATES PATENTS Dl75,6849/1955 Kellogg mj 4/149 x l,560.922 11/1925 Wege 4/l-46 UX INTEGRALLYMOLDED HEADER AND CURTAIN RAIL Inventors: James Edwards Chisholm, SafetyHarbor, Fla.; Anthony Buonaura, Baldwinsville, N.Y.

1,656.410 l/l928 Baer et al. 4/145 2,014,554 9/1935 Bulthuis 4/l462.253.038 8/1941 Lee 4/146 x 2.282.329 5/1942 Johnson l 4/146 x2,897,515 8/l959 Collins 4/154 3.062.279 ll/l962 Kochanowski..... 4/154x 3,222,689 12/1965 Efron et al 4/149 3.609,773 10/1971 Mustee 4/146Primary ExaminerHarvey C. Hornsby Assistant Examiner-Donald B.Massenberg Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Frank M. Van Riet ABSTRACT A headerunit adapted to form the uppermost portion of a shower stall entrancewaycomprising an elongated section of V shaped cross-section, stilereceiving members attached to both ends thereof, knob-like members atthe bottom interior of said stile receiving members and a shower curtainrail positioned lengthwise along the rear portion of said section.

8 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures INTEGRALLY MOLDED HEADER AND CURTAIN RAILBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The construction of shower stall units ofthe freestanding variety has increased materially in recent years. Theearliest of the commercially available showers of this type wereprepared from metal and necessitated intricate attaching means for thevarious sections of the showers, i.e., walls, hand rails, headers, etc.In most instances, these attaching means were also of metal and, as aresult, the showers were susceptible to corrosion, etc., at the attachedsurfaces or areas where any protective coatings on the metal weredamaged or otherwise removed or disrupted.

More recently, shower stalls have been prepared from non-corrosivematerials such as plastics, see US. Pat. No. 3,609,773. Even theseplastic showers, however, rely basically upon metal fasteners to securewalls, sills, headers, etc., together and therefore, while relievingsome of the corrosion problems, are still beset with corrosion problemsof their own.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION We have now discovered a novel header unitwhich may be utilized as the uppermost portion of a shower stallentrance-way, and in its broadest application, may form the entire topframing section of a shower stall. The novel header of our invention isentirely free of metal and includes not only the rigidity imparting andsupporting ability of metal headers but also a curtain rail portionadapted to receive shower curtain support means.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a broken front view of theleft side of the header of the instant invention, the right side beingidentical thereto;

FIG. 2 is a view as seen from the plane indicated by line 2--2 of FIG.1;

FIG. 3 isa cross-sectional view as seen from the plane indicated by line3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side view of shower curtain support means which may beutilized in conjunction with the header unit of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a view showing a preferred construction of the header unit asseen from the same plane indicated by line 2-2 of FIG. 1 wherein furthersupporting means are indicated and which is shown on a scale smallerthan FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view as seen from the plane indicated byline 6-6 of FIG. 5.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION INCLUDING PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1illustrates a header unit according to the present invention. The unitincludes an elongated, middle section 1 of substantially V" shapedcross-section 2 (FIG. 2). The middle section has hollow, bullet-shaped,downwardly open, stile receiving members 3 at both ends thereof (onemember not shown) each with slightly inwardly tapering sides or walls 4and 5, (shown as angles, FIG. 1) terminating at bottom interior 6. Aplurality of knob-like members 7 are positioned equidistant from theinnermost tapered portions of said sides at said bottom interior 6 ofthe stile receiving members 3. The stile receiving members are adaptedto receive the stile portion of the entrance-way (not shown) of theshower stall. The stiles are maintained in locked contact with themembers by being of slightly larger width than the space between thewalls 4 and 5 and the members 7 at the bottom interior 6. A showercurtain rail 8 runs lengthwise along the rear portion of middle section1 and is adapted to detachably receive slideable shower curtain supportmeans as more fully discussed below.

The header unit is one-piece and is of molded construction, the insideportion of the stile receiving members of which is best seen in FIG. 2.As can be seen, the member is of bullet-shaped appearance; The rearportion of side 4 extending beyond that of side 5 to form flap-likewings 9. The underside of rail 8 is shown extending beyond the interiorvertical side 5 of the stile receiving member and terminating at stop10. The wings 9 contain hole 11 for attaching the walls (not shown) ofthe shower stall thereto.

The wings 9 are more specifically shown in FIG. 3. As can be seen, theyare of flap-like shape and are adapted to receive the outer walls of theshower stall, which walls may be attached thereto with availablefastening means such as plastic screws through holes 1 1. The rail 8 isdepicted as substantially circular in axial crosssection and is adaptedto receive shower curtain support means. A typical shower curtainsupport means 12 is shown in FIG. 4. Portion 13 of the support means isof substantially the same inner configuration as rail 8 and isdetachably received by the rail. Since the rail is of substantially thesame cross sectioned shape as the area 14 formed by portion 13 of thesupport means, the means is free to slide easily along the rail ineither direction before being halted by stop 10. Portion 15 of thesupport means 12 is adapted to receive a shower curtain thereon, thecurtain being intermittently grometted across its upper edge as is thecustom. Projection 16 of the support means protrudes outwardly to anextent such that it contacts the rear wall 17 (FIG. 3) of the middlesection 1 and thereby prevents the shower curtain from moving in anydirection but laterally across the rail.

FIG. 5 depicts an improved header unit which also falls within the scopeof the present invention and which combines the features discussed aboveof our novel header with a framing member 18. The framing member is partof the one-piece header unit and is shaped like the letter U in itspreferred configuration with the open or free ends of the U constitutingreplacements for wings9 of FIG. 3. In this modification the U shapedmember preferably runs from the outside upper rear edge of side 4 ofstile receiving member 3 to a similar position on the opposite stilereceiving member. FIG. 5 is of smaller scale than FIG. 2 and shows bothstile receiving members from the same plane indicated by line 2-2 ofFIG. 1. Framing member 18is of substantially a clothespinlikecross-section, best shown in FIG. 6. The member is composed of a bodyportion 19 and two legs 20 and 21, the space between said legs formingan opening adapted to receive the wall portions (not shown) of theshower stall. The framing member 18 of FIG. 5 is shown as substantiallysquare but may be rectangular in shape if desired. The ultimate showerstall will, of course, conform in shape to the shape of the framingmember which rigidifies the shower stall and holds the shape thereofconsistent.

- known to be moldable and have such properties so as to provide rigid,impact resistant molded products is applicable. A preferred constructionmaterial which may be used is that generally known as pre-mixcompression molding compound, gunk-molding compounds," bulk-moldingcompound, etc., and which is composed of an unsaturated polyester resin,various fillers such as clay, calcium carbonate, etc., fibers such asfiberglass, nylon, asbestos, etc., pigments and a cross-linking agentsuch as styrene. The composition is a putty-like material which isformed into the molded header by adding catalyst thereto and compressionmolding the resultant mixture in a molding press with downwardly orupwardly acting matched metal dies. When the header unit represented byFIG. 5 is prepared, it may be constructed of the same material but mustbe injection molded.

Although our invention has been described above with some degree ofparticularity and generally in its preferred forms, it is to beunderstood that said preferred forms have been presented by way ofillustration only and that many modifications of both the constructionand arrangement of parts thereof may be made 1 without departing fromthe scope of the instant invention.

We claim:

l. A one-piece, molded header unit adapted to form the uppermost portionof a free-standing shower stall entrance-way comprising I I anelongated, middle section of substantially V"- shaped cross-section;

hollow, downwardly open, stile receiving members at both ends of saidmiddle section, each of said stile receiving members having slightlyinwardly tapering sides;

a plurality of knob-like members positioned equidistant from theinwardmost tapered portion of said sides at the bottom interior of saidstile receiving members and a shower curtain rail running lengthwisealong the rear portion of said middle section, said rail being adaptedto detachably receive thereon slideable shower curtain support means.

2. A header unit according to claim 1 wherein fastening means arepositioned in said stile receiving members.

3. A header unit according to claim 1 having flap-like side portions onsaid stile receiving members extending rearwardly from the side edgesthereof.

4. A header unit according to claim 3 wherein fastening means arepositioned in said flap-like side portions of said stile receivingmembers.

5. A header unit according to claim 1 wherein said rail extends beyondthe interior vertical sides of said stile-receiving members.

6. A header unit according to claim 1 wherein said rail is ofsubstantially circular axial cross-section.

7. A header unit according to claim 1 wherein said stile receivingmembers are bullet-shaped.

8. A header according to claim 1 having a framing member in the shape ofa U running from the outside rear edge of one stile receiving member, toa similar position on the other stile receiving member, said framingmember being substantially of clothespin-like crosssection, the freeends of said U being attached to said stile receiving members.

1. A one-piece, molded header unit adapted to form the uppermost portionof a free-standing shower stall entrance-way comprising an elongated,middle section of substantially ''''V''''-shaped cross-section; hollow,downwardly open, stile receiving members at both ends of said middlesection, each of said stile receiving members having slightly inwardlytapering sides; a plurality of knob-like members positioned equidistantfrom the inwardmost tapered portion of said sides at the bottom interiorof said stile receiving members and a shower curtain rail runninglengthwise along the rear portion of said middle section, said railbeing adapted to detachably receive thereon slideable shower curtainsupport means.
 2. A header unit according to claim 1 wherein fasteningmeans are positioned in said stile receiving members.
 3. A header unitaccording to claim 1 having flap-like side portions on said stilereceiving members extending rearwardly from the side edges thereof.
 4. Aheader unit according to claim 3 wherein fastening means are positionedin said flap-like side portions of said stile receiving members.
 5. Aheader unit according to claim 1 wherein said rail extends beyond theinterior vertical sides of said stile-receiving members.
 6. A headerunit according to claim 1 wherein said rail is of substantially circularaxial cross-section.
 7. A header unit according to claim 1 wherein saidstile receiving members are bullet-shaped.
 8. A header according toclaim 1 having a framing member in the shape of a ''''U'''' running fromthe outside rear edge of one stile receiving member, to a similarposition on the other stile receiving member, said framing member beingsubstantially of clothespin-like cross-section, the free ends of said''''U'''' being attached to said stile receiving members.